1. AMPHIBIANS
• An Amphibian is a vertebrate
(an animal with a backbone)
• Amphibian comes from a Greek word meaning
“Double life”
• Most amphibians live part of their lives underwater
and part on land.
• They are cold blooded animals which means that their
body temperature changes with their surroundings
2. TYPES
• Amphibians are made up of
3 sub groups
-Frogs & Toads,
-Salamanders & Newts and
-Caecilians (wormlike animals)
• There are over 8100 species of
amphibians worldwide
FROG
SALAMANDER
CAECILIANS
3. TRAITS
• Amphibians have thin and wet skin
with several glands.
Several amphibians use their skin to
breathe
• Some of them have fish like scales
• They possess a double-channeled
hearing system that allows them
hearing out of water as well
• They have teeth located only on the
upper jaw, used to only hold the prey.
They simply swallow and not chew
their food
4. DIET
• With a few exceptions, adult amphibians
are predators, feeding on virtually anything
that moves that they can swallow.
• The diet mostly consists of small prey that
do not move too fast such as beetles,
caterpillars, earthworms and spiders.
5. REPRODUCTION
• Amphibians reproduce by laying eggs that do not
have a hard shell
• Most females lay eggs in the water and the babies,
called larvae or tadpoles continue living there
• As the tadpoles grow, they develop legs and lungs
that allow them to live on land
6. LIFECYCLE
• Amphibians start their lives as eggs in water
• The frog amphibian develops into tadpoles that
breathes through gills, like fish
• They first grow their back legs and gradually the
front ones. During this time, their tail starts to
shorten and finally disappears
• As adults they live on land who breathe air using
their lungs and skin
• These changes an animal makes during its life cycle
is also called Metamorphosis
2 legs
4 legs
Tail disappears Looks like a fish
